From Sarah Palin to RNC, Republicans Push Back on New Hillary Clinton Book

By Benjamin Siegel June 9, 2014

(Julio Cortez/AP Photo)

With all eyes focused on Hillary Clinton's new memoir, "Hard Choices," leading up to its release Tuesday, Republicans are weighing in on Clinton's account of her tenure as secretary of state and preparing a media offensive of their own to offset the attention the book has received.

ABC News' Diane Sawyer's interview with Hillary Clinton will air during a one-hour ABC News primetime special tonight at 9 p.m. ET. ABC News' Robin Roberts will follow up with Clinton's first live interview on Tuesday on "Good Morning America."

From opposition groups to the Republican National Committee, conservatives are challenging the importance and details of Clinton's account of her time at the State Department with a book of their own.

  • "Hillary Clinton's Failed Choices: A Critique of the Clinton State Department," an e-book published by the Republican opposition research group America Rising, will be released Tuesday, the same day "Hard Choices" hits bookstores.

The opposition book accuses Clinton's memoir of glossing over her record at the State Department in preparation for a possible 2016 presidential campaign.

"Hillary Clinton can rewrite her history as a series of Hard Choices, but America Rising won't let her fool Americans into thinking they were successful ones," the group says in the book.

  • The Republican National Committee released a 45-page briefing book of talking points for Republicans on Clinton's tenure as secretary of state. The list, titled "Bad Choices," includes a number of topics, from Benghazi and the Arab Spring, to Russia and Clinton's general leadership of the State Department.

Individual Republicans, including Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, are responding to reactions to the memoir, reflecting on its contents and dismissing the attention Clinton has received in public and on Twitter.

  • Palin tweeted a photo of a page of "Hard Choices" that details the Obama campaign's attempt to get Clinton to dismiss Palin's nomination in 2008, along with the caption, "Look who fired the 1st shot in the real 'war on women.' Hint: it wasn't the GOP.
  • Speaking at the Texas GOP convention June 6, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, jokingly suggested that President Barack Obama ought to exchange five Democrats, including Clinton, for a U.S. Marine imprisoned in Mexico for crossing the border with weapons.

"Mr. President, you love to trade people, so why don't we set up a trade," Paul said, referencing the exchange of five Guantanamo Bay detainees for American Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl with the Taliban. "But this time how about instead of five Taliban, how about five Democrats? I'm thinking John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi - couldn't we send them to Mexico?"

Like Clinton, Paul is considered a potential 2016 presidential candidate.

  • On June 5, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Florida, tweeted "No surprise here," in response to an Associated Press story about a passage of "Hard Choices" where Clinton describes her attempt to convince President Barack Obama of the failures of the U.S. embargo of Cuba.

"Near the end of my tenure, I recommended to President Obama that he take another look at our embargo," Clinton writes. "It wasn't achieving its goals, and it was holding back our broader agenda across Latin America."

Regardless of the memoir's claims about Clinton's tenure and how Republicans plan to respond, "Hard Choices" is almost certain to be a bestseller: Simon & Schuster sold out its initial print of 1 million copies, with more likely on the way.